IU Northwest News

Notes of Distinction: Feb. 2020

Campus accolades and achievements

Thursday Feb 06, 2020

UAEA celebrates CASE Awards

Congratulations to IU Northwest, whose work was honored in December of 2019 by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District V. The University Advancement and External Affairs team was on hand to accept the awards on behalf of the entire campus community.

The Pride of Case V Awards recognizes the best work in communications, alumni relations, and development by member institutions in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

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Osan presents paper

Congratulations to Ana Osan, professor of Spanish, who presented a paper titled, “Aproximaciones a la poesía de Ana Merino: Una mirada a su odisea norteamericana,” at the Sixteenth Conference of the Association of the Academies of the Spanish Language, on November 6, 2019, in Seville, Spain.

Pride of the School of Social Work

Congratulations to students Anne Schoenhofen, Cynthia Mendoza, and Monika Puskac, the first IU Northwest students selected as IU School of Social Work Journey Scholars.

Based in Indianapolis and supported by The Eli Lilly Endowment, Inc., The Journey is a partnership of organizations committed to helping college students explore careers working with youth. The Journey Fellowship for Students offers senior-level students opportunities to explore their chosen discipline by placing them with internships in local community agencies for their field practicum. In addition to the student award of $1,000 per semester, agencies that hire IU graduating students and choose to partner with The Journey, receive $2,000 to use toward professional development.

Until now, The Journey had only served students at IU Bloomington and Butler University This is a great opportunity for social work students in Northwest Indiana interested in working with youth and who are committed to giving back to the community.

In their roles with the scholarship planning committee, Assistant Professor of Social Work Marshelia Harris, and Twan Stokes, an adjunct faculty member who also serves as the deputy director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, were instrumental in securing the scholarships and shaping the requirements. As a result, The Journey committed to providing an additional 10 scholarships for students in the 2020-21 academic year.

The students are currently fulfilling their practicums and will complete their hours on May 1. Anne Schoenhofen works at the Gary Housing Authority; Cynthia Mendoza at Indiana Department of Child Services, and Monika Puskac at the Griffith Police Department. Congratulations to all three!

Harris was also recently named an Executive Journey Fellow for 2020. This provides her with an opportunity to enhance her leadership skills while also helping to develop the students’ experiences within the Journey program. An executive journey fellow connects with other professionals to identify strategies for positive change that will elevate and empower the field of youth work. The fellow works with an accountability team to create a renewal plan that is grounded in the vocation.